Different routes into teaching?

[summerdays]

One of my children wants to be a teacher, and has wanted to teach for years.

Now I know there is a variety of different ways into teaching, what are the pros and cons of each route? It's my prickly pear child which means whatever I say is wrong! And yet they ask my advice, and just criticise my comments.

And is a gap year beneficial?

 

[Katherine]

New teachers who have done other things first seem to make very good teachers. It's definitely a good idea to get experience in a school and/or working with kids. Good luck to them whatever way they choose.

 

[summerdays]

Current job is an after school club, and they have done experience in a classroom on a regular basis, AND they still want to go into teaching, but school are wanting all the year 13 pupils to get their UCAS applications in which is difficult when you haven't made up your mind which route to take to get into teaching.

 

[screenman]

Judging by two of my kids who are teachers getting experience away from school worked out best.

 

[cookiemonster]

I have just started teaching, a career which I hadn't planned but fell into, accidentally, and realised I'm quite good at it.

Bsc in Zoology which led me to teach youngsters at the Zoology museum at Aberdeen Uni, where I studied, then studied a few TEFL qualifications, got classroom experience while studying a PGDE.

Don't know if that's useful info but they must have a good degree to begin with.

 

[summerdays]

Anyone have any comments on taking Education as a degree or the In school training options? (I'm not that keen on the latter one though I don't know if that is just based on my lack of knowledge about it).

 

[summerdays]

Don't know if that's useful info but they must have a good degree to begin with.

That's the bit scaring them, she worries she won't get the results, especially as her AS's weren't as good as her GCSE's (which were all A's).

 

[screenman]

Anyone have any comments on taking Education as a degree or the In school training options? (I'm not that keen on the latter one though I don't know if that is just based on my lack of knowledge about it).

My youngest did Maths with Education for his degree then did another year for his teaching certificate.

He is now a fireman.

 

[byegad]

Modern rates of wastage in new entrants to the teaching profession are high. By that I mean a lot of new teachers are not in the profession 5 years later. An Education degree is seen as just the job for entry into teaching but tends to narrow your choices if you leave.

By all means should your off-spring go into teaching, but I'd suggest NOT through an Education degree. That way a change of profession in the future is easier.

 

[screenman]

Got to be better than a degree in fog weaving or the suchlike. But I must say byegad has a point, my lad maybe should have done just maths or physics.

 

[perplexed]

Trying to obtain a good degree starts her off from a solid foundation. Life experience is quite handy, but I'm not sure about the gap year thing. I tend to think they put people a year behind, and some people find others' gap year experiences a bit, well, annoying... Maybe doing some local volunteering may be more benificial if she doesn't want to leap straight in, looks good on the CV. Perhaps better than something which can look a bit like a jolly in foreign climes. (Not sayin' that they all are, but it's something to be wary of...)

Also,from someone who knows a lot of teachers, the best advice is to have an exit plan. I'm not trying to put her off, but people tend to massively underestimate the demands placed on teachers. It's a great thing to do by whichever route she elects, there can be huge job satisfaction. But the teaching bit tends to be the 'easy' bit, it's everything else and the baggage which causes the issues. Good luck to her, all that said!

 

[growingvegetables]

+1 on preferring a non-Education degree; keep their options as open as they can - with an exit/alternative route.

+1 on having ...... a broader hinterland (?); some experience outside the world of education. Depends on what your child wants to teach? I'm thinking of degrees that include a sandwich year in industry or abroad? (Better than a gap year, imho)

 

[screenman]

My eldest left school at 16 worked with me for 8 years then did a OU course for his degree, then two years part time at Hallam for his certificate.

Seems to have worked well for him as he is now deputy head of a large secondary. When I asked him about stress he said not as much as working for himself.

Certainly not a job I could do or want too that is for sure.

 

[summerdays]

She's always liked the younger aged kids, first looking after all her nieces and nephews and then later adding other neighbours young children, so definitely primary. Subject wise to study possibly History or even history with French or Geography if they exist.

 

[vernon]

She's always liked the younger aged kids, first looking after all her nieces and nephews and then later adding other neighbours young children, so definitely primary. Subject wise to study possibly History or even history with French or Geography if they exist.

Health warning! Health warning! Health warning!

Primary school teaching is the most demanding teaching job in schools and can be the most demoralising in terms of unreasonable workloads and expectations. Yiour daughter needs to be indefatigable, robust and prepared to bust a gut to meet all expectations.

Good primary school teachers, in my opinion, should be paid more than their secondary school teacher counterparts. A good foundation of skills, ambition and knowledge laid down while at primary school sets a kid up for life.